Du Viet @ KLCC, Jalan Ampang

As I knew that I would be meeting BB later in the day and we will probably be dining at Suria KLCC again, I did a bit of homework beforehand by checking out the reviews of the restaurants…and the Vietnamese Restaurant Du Viet had rather good reviews..so, when we met , I was ready with a makan place to suggest.

From Di Viet website http://www.duviet.com.my/ : The name “Du Viet” means to “do Vietnamese” for a meal as in “What would you like to do for lunch? Let’s do Vietnamese”. The “Du” is a play on sound as well as to imply the French influence in Vietnam.

Drinks, we ordered Ginger Lemon Tea, from the first sip, I felt my nose, my throat and my lungs cleared..this was a feel good drink –physically and psychologically .

Apple salad RM 25.90, this is like a replica of the infamous Thai mango salad, just substitute mango with apple and you have it. Apart from the main ingredient : green apple, there were roasted peanut, dried shrimps, cuttlefish in the dish. This is a milder and lighter version compared to mango salad, mango salad has that umpphhhhh and gives you a kick with it’s strong flavours, this one is a bit of a sedated mango salad. But it was still very pleasant and we enjoyed this ( and I should probably stop comparing this with mango salad)

There were not much of vegetable dish to select from the menu , so we went for bittergourd with prawns RM 22.90. This was probably what I could achieve at home with bitterguord and prawns, this was average lah

Lemongrass fish on banana leaves RM29.90 , the thing we noticed about the food was that that when they arrive , they weren’t hot, they were just like at room temperature .We weren’t too far from the counter, so the walk from the counter to our table couldn’t account for so much of heat loss. So, I guess it could be that the temperature at the restaurant was set to too low and caused the dishes to cool quickly. The fish arrived at the table at a lukewarm temperature zone which reduce the appeal of the dish by half. Tastewise, I can’t really comment as when the food hit my taste bud the ‘coldness’ of the dish dominated the sensation. The texture of the fish was a bit soft, I would prefer a firmer texture.

Braised duck in special nut sauce RM 28.90- this was the saviour of the day, the gravy had that powderish / grainish kinda texture and the flavour was impeccable with peanut-ish undertones. The duck was tender and impregnated with the flavour of the gravy, I likeeeyyy

Deep fried stuffed tofu RM25.90, the tofu were crispy and firm with savoury filings, these were quite good too

The blogs highly recommended the durian pancake RM12, so we had to order it. The 2 tiny yellow puffy pillows that arrived at our table looked flawless. We did some maths before cutting it up. RM12 for 2 pieces, so, each one costs RM6, cut that into half and it’s RM3 per section…. But all the equations evaporated when we bit into the durian pancakes. Underneath that thin and flawness skin were durian puree and a layer of cream. This was oh la la…this was a ten ! I could almost hear angels twanging on their harps and fluttering their bleached flurry wings..

Overall , an enjoyable meal. The bill , plus 3 bowls of rice and 2 drinks came close to RM200, which was again rather pricey , but this was KLCC !